Gay Identity, New Storytelling and The Media

This book offers a critical introduction to gay and lesbian identity within the media, focusing on the potential of 'new storytelling'. Foregrounding case studies which are taken principally from television, film and online media, a central focus is placed upon the narrative potential of individual storytellers who as self-reflexive producers, writers, performers and (active) audiences generate new discourses for gay and lesbian identity. This reveals not only the high-profile political potential of gay men and lesbians who as authors and media producers have challenged ideologies (such as Debra Chasnoff, Quentin Crisp, Russell T. Davies, Ellen DeGeneres, Todd Haynes, Christopher Isherwood, Derek Jarman, Tony Kushner, k.d. lang, Armistead Maupin and Sarah Waters), but also the subjective and subversive contributions of popular figures not normally connected to gay and lesbian ideals (such as Alan Bennett, Dirk Bogarde, Russell Harty and Gore Vidal). Furthermore, the emerging narrative potential of web-based new media and the significance of youth and non-Western identity are revealed in the formation of contemporary storytelling frames and the construction of new social worlds. Marking a shift away from previous approaches to gay and lesbian identity within the media, which have often relied upon film theory, historical appropriation and anecdotal accounts, this book foregrounds discursive and multivalent potentials, contextualising political emergences. Gay Identity, New Storytelling and the Media is not an exposure of different experience; rather it is the celebration of diverse yet coalescent narratives. This offers empowerment to gay and lesbian voices, revealing the critical advance of new storytelling.